


Who I Am Is What I Choose to Be

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Body Horror, Drama, Gen, Ghost in the Shell concepts, Not Canon Compliant, Rating May Change, Robots, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7405870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written in response to this kinkmeme:  http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/21013.html?thread=53205013#t53205013<br/>"Maybe Steve had ended up dying out of view of his team, so Shield was able to get someone to create an android Steve Rogers, so it's like he never left. and it's a surprise when it accidentally gets revealed when Steve gets damaged on a mission. The android's program was done in such a way that even the android believes it's a real person. So Steve becomes quite upset and tries to deny he's not real. Cue the team starting to feel sorry for him despite the fact they were a bit angered not to know the truth before and that it was a machine. Cue Tony being extremely fascinated with Steve and how he works. Ever since it was revealed, Tony stopped referring to him as a person because really, he was annoyed by Steve so he feels the insults are granted.</p>
<p>The rest of the prompt is at the above URL.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"What the fuck?" said Sam as he stared at Steve's right arm. It wasn't just that his right hand was missing but . . .

Steve looked down and instead of blood, there was bits of metal and wires hanging out. "I . . . I don't understand." There was no pain, only a feeling of the lack of his missing limb. He had just batted away the last grenade hurled by a dying Hydra operative.

"You didn't tell me you got a prosthetic," said Sam. He had experience with consulting veterans with prosthetics but usually the prosthetics were either very obvious or they were upfront about what they had done.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know," said Steve, looking horrified and confused.

Natasha frowned. "Why don't we all just get back on the plane and go back to the Tower and figure out what's going on?"

"He could be a plant," said Clint.

"If he was a plant, he would have run away instead of standing there with electronics hanging out of his arm," she said to him. She turned to Steve. "Steve, come here." She could tell his confusion was genuine. 

"Maybe they just replaced something without telling him or any of us," said Sam.

"That's actually pretty disturbing," said Clint. 

Natasha nodded. "It is but it's not right to take it out on him if that's what happened."

***

"So, how's Steve?" said Sam after Tony walked out of the examination room.

"He's not really Steve," said Tony.

"So, who is he?"

"He's a bot," said Tony. "He's one hundred percent mechanical."

"Now I know that the Steve I met was not a robot."

"He wasn't."

"Excuse me?" said Sam. "I'm not tracking."

"I just got news that SHIELD replaced him with this prototype after the real Steve died."

"What?"

"Remember that mission that took out that battle cruiser. That's when the real Steve died."

"That's been a few months!"

"Yeah, scary, isn't it?"

"So, this Steve has been lying to us."

Banner walked out of the room. "Actually, no, as far as Tony and JARVIS can tell, he's being sincere when he thinks he's Steve Rogers. That's what his programming is."

***

"So far, it's been just you and Tony who've come by to talk to me," said Steve as he sat in the recovery room.

Bruce sighed, "I know it's been hard on you but I think they're all still processing it. They don't really blame you, you know. We've stressed that you can't help believing what you believe. All I know is that you're not who you have been programmed to think you are."

"But it's what I feel with all my heart or whatever analog I have. Why aren't you freaked out?"

Bruce smiled ruefully. "As you know, I have a lot of practice of keeping calm no matter what the provocation. It also helps that even though it's dangerous, if I had to prove who I was, there's no way SHIELD could copy what happens when I become the Hulk. So, I'm pretty safe from being impersonated. Thor has his hammer to ID him and I don't think Asgardian tech would be fooled by a copy. However, Natasha, Clint and even Tony . . . they're afraid something like this could happen to them."

"I can see why they're so scared. What's going to happen to me?"

"When we confronted some people at SHIELD, they fessed up and said they had done a scan of the original Steve's brain and created a synthetic model. The Avengers were the crash test dummies when it came to seeing how effective their creation was. They're now insisting we keep you as part of the team."

"Don't I have a say in that?"

"I think you do."

"I just want it to be my choice, not just something someone decides for me. I still want to do the right thing and help everyone but I won't be effective if everybody is afraid I'll suddenly develop a bug or become all glitchy."

"Give them time. They keep me around and I'm scary as hell when I glitch."

***

"So, are you sure you don't want to change your name to Voltron or Gundam?" said Tony as he began attaching the replacement arm unto Steve's stump. It was not obviously mechanical but matched the rest of his apparently human looking body. 

"No, Tony. I want you to call me by my real name. It's the only name I've got."

"Well, it's not like the original can complain," said Tony. "I'm really impressed by this. My dad would be totally flipping his shit."

Steve sighed. "I'm not another one of your suits."

"No, you're better," said Tony. "I really want to pop up your skull open and check to see your cyber brain."

"Tony, stop salivating over him," said Bruce. "You'll get electrocuted."

"Also, what is a Gundam? I know what Voltron is," said Steve.

"Gundam is an anime with mecha." Seeing Steve's blank expression, he said, "Ok, I can see it's flying over your head. Anime is like Japanese cartoons and mecha is like big robots that are piloted from the inside in anime so it's not like Power Rangers. There are battles in space, politics and if we're talking Gundam Wing, there are also pretty boys."

Bruce gave Tony a look. "That is one of the least enlightening explanations I have ever heard."

"Just watch it, you'll enjoy it."

"I just thought of something."

"What?"

"Even if I am completely mechanical as far as you can tell . . . I was wondering if they somehow captured my soul and bound it to it."

"You're talking about straight up magic."

"Yeah, I guess I am. Arthur C. Clarke once said that 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"

"It may look like magic but it isn't," said Tony. "I'm sorry but you're still a bot."

"Tony," said Bruce. "Can we just concentrate on fixing his arm? We can do tech talk later."

"Ok, honey," snarked Tony.

***

In the end, it took viewing his dead body to convince Steve that he was a copy. The body had been broken in half with a large chest wound. The other Avengers were also allowed to view the body with Tony scanning the body to make sure that wasn't also a mechanical copy. Sam began weeping while the others looked extremely grim and sad. 

"I can't believe I'm not him. Am I very like him?" said Steve. He finally had a visitor other than Bruce or Tony. He had hidden in his room after that, trying to deal with it and not wanting to further freak out his teammates. 

"You're very close if not identical," said Natasha. "And you're talking to someone who was trained in the Red Room to be an imposter on demand and detect imposters in turn."

"I remember the 1930s and 1940s . . . they did a great job of copying him."

"Everybody's still in shock over this. We actually demanded Steve's body back so we could give him a funeral but they insisted on keeping it for further study. However, they said that we could have a private indoor service with a chaplain who's already on the payroll and has the right level of clearance. Now that we know that he's dead, people need to mourn him."

"I shouldn't come, should I?'

"No, I think that would be really awkward. They don't really blame you for any of this. It's just really hard. He was someone I trusted and I don't trust that many people."

"I get it. It would be weird. I know that you don't think I'm Steve and I understand on an intellectual level I'm not. It's just that I still feel like I am. I'd like to be part of the team but I don't want you and the rest to resent me."

"I think you'll have to acknowledge the original."

"Perhaps . . . everybody should call me Grant. That's my . . . our middle name. It's still a part of me."

"Grant . . . I'll give everybody a heads up."

***

"I wish that you would stop talking about him like he's just a machine," said Bruce as he and Tony had lunch. They were eating pastrami sandwiches and chicken matzo ball soup.

"He's just a machine," said Tony. "He's expendable. He blows up, they'll ship another copy."

"He's been working his ass off and he's even more reckless than he once was to prove himself. Even if he is an android, he's been a good team member. I think we should recognize that."

"Whatever . . ."

"Did you really hate Steve that much?"

"What? I didn't hate Steve. I was immensely irritated by him but I never wanted him dead. I just wanted him to stop being so damned pigheaded about things."


	2. Chapter 2

Sam heard the knock on the door and looked through the peephole. He paused to consider if he should open the door or pretend he wasn't in. He cursed himself for being an ass and opened the door.

"OK, if we talk?" said Steve, holding two bottles of beers and a beer opener. 

Sam looked up. "Sure, come on in."

They sat down. Steve opened up a bottle and handed it to Sam. "Your favorite, right?"

"Yeah," said Sam.

"I've been going around to everyone and asking if they can work with me before going back to the field. You don't have to work with me if you don't want to."

Sam rubbed his face. "That's not how it works. Team work means you learn to work with people who don't necessarily agree with you all the time or think the way you do."

"Yeah, but you recognize them as people."

"Has there been anybody who has refused to work with you?"

Steve paused. "Surprisingly, most of them have been on board with me coming back. Tony . . . wants me to work but it's more like using me as an expendable drone."

Sam licked his lips. "You have his memories, right?"

Steve hesitated before saying anything. It never ceased to throw him for a loop for him to be referred to as a separate and different person but he knew that insisting he was Steve would just make people step back. "Yeah, I do. The last thing he'd want is to upset you. You really were a good friend of his."

"I think people were initially feeling that they'd be betraying his memory by working with you and acting like nothing happened. You don't mind being called Grant?"

"I chose it, didn't I?"

Sam took a pull of the beer. "But I know it's not something you wanted to do."

"I think that if it makes people feel better to think of me as Steve's twin brother who has a lot of his same life experiences, maybe it would make things easier for everyone. As long as I get to keep my last name, I think I can manage."

"I'm sorry but it does help."

"I've got a favor I need to ask of you."

"What?"

"I know that you and he were working on finding Bucky. I want to continue doing that."

"Why?"

"Because Bucky needs help but also . . ."

"Also?"

"It's something I know would never be deliberately programmed into me."

Sam's eyes teared up. 

***

"Bruce, do you mind if I talk to you a little?" said Natasha as she walked into the workshop.

"Sure, Natasha." Bruce looked up from his laptop and gave her a smile. 

"Have you ever heard of the concept of ghost dubbing?"

Bruce frowned. "I can't say that I have. Why?"

"A ghost is a term for a soul or what makes someone different than a robot. There have been some experiments done regarding ghost-dubbing."

"And you are going to explain this to me?"

"It's taking someone's ghost and making a copy of the original. Now, usually it's impossible because the original dies in the process and the copy is inferior so there's little to no point in doing it."

"Are you saying that's what they did to Steve?"

"My hypothesis is this. Due to the serum, Steve's endurance was markedly upgraded to the point that a perfect copy was made. I think there's an actual soul in there."

"So you're basically talking about the Ship of Theseus paradox."

"I'm not familiar with . . ."

"It's a paradox by an ancient Greek philosopher whose thought experiment was about a ship whose every part of it is slowly replaced over a long stretch of time. Ten years later, there's a ship that looks and behaves the same but every part of it has been replaced so the question is 'Is it still the same ship?' For example, your human body is nothing like it was when you were born yet you are still Natasha." Bruce said, "I assume you have documentation regarding this."

Natasha sighed. "I don't have documents that are a smoking gun. However, I do have some classified documents about a Japanese Section 6 Project 2501 and how a couple of its technicians now work for SHIELD after asking for asylum. I also have information about ghost dubbing itself."

"I'll take a look at it," said Bruce. "I have to say that if there's a basis for even suspicion of him having a genuine ghost being true then this is something that should be shared with the team. It's not something we can prove in a black or white manner, only say whether it's possible or not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of the concepts in this chapter come from The Ghost in the Shell universe, a manga/film/anime series.
> 
> Much of the concepts are in more detail on this page: http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Philosophy Section 6 and Section 9 are different Japanese government organizations devoted to security and are often in conflict with each other. http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Organizations Project 2501 involved the creation of a program that evolved into a complete ghost. 
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus is an actual paradox. 
> 
> Steve's main claim to humanity is his "selfish" desire to rescue his friend. It is something that is not built to serve SHIELD or anybody else on the team.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam said to Steve as they walked down the hall to the Tower's meeting room, "Do you know why we are having this meeting?"

"I don't. I just know that Natasha and Bruce are the ones who set it up." Steve felt really irritated because he had been in the middle of following up on a lead hinting that Bucky was in Eastern Europe. 

Everybody else was at the meeting room, including two guests. One appeared to be a Japanese woman in her early thirties while the other was a balding Japanese man in his early forties. Both looked grumpy and resentful. It was really obvious that both had their arms twisted into attending. 

"I'm glad everybody is here," said Natasha as they both sat down. 

"So, care to introduce our guests?" said Tony. "I got things to see, people to do."

"They're the technicians from Japan's Section 6 who took asylum with SHIELD. They're the ones who helped create Steve's new body. The man's name is Makoto Abe and the woman's name is Emi Hamasaki."

"Why are you calling him Steve?" said Tony. "I thought everybody agreed to call him Grant."

Bruce sighed before saying, "I reviewed both the information Natasha gave me and had a long talk with both Makoto and Emi about what went down. We believe that Steve is a successful ghost dub."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Tony.

Steve bit his lip but said nothing.

Makoto said, "We're here to clear our names. You all saw his body and how mangled it was. Now if Steve Rogers had been working for an agency that allowed for rapid and complete transferal of his organic brain to a complete and secure cybernetic body, we would have done that. However, SHIELD did not have that kind of program set up."

Bruce said, "Hasn't there been problems with ghost hacking, people hacking into people's cyber brains and making them see things that aren't there and do things against their will?"

"Yes, there have been problems with that. Also these type of bodies require extensive and expensive maintenance. There are also psychological problems caused by knowing that, depending on how extensive the modifications are, that all that is left of your original body is a lump of brain matter the size of your fist," said Emi flatly. 

"Sounds more trouble than it's worth," said Clint.

"Our former section didn't authorize that for its own members for many reasons but we often worked with cyborgs. They can be very useful."

"All very entertaining and scary but what is the point?" said Tony, waving his hand in frustration.

Makoto and Emi looked at each other. "Steve Rogers gave us permission to ghost dub him unto a robotic body," Emi said.

"Why would he do that?"

"I assume he had his reasons but we recorded him giving us permission to do so after we thoroughly informed him that it might not work. He seemed to really want a part of himself to go on."

Natasha took the flash drive from the table and put it into a laptop connected to a projector. The machined turn on and the projection showed Steve being coolly asked as he lay in a hospital bed if he agreed to the experiment that might make it possible for a copy of his ghost to survive but that there was a chance it would not and the attempt itself would likely quicken his death.

"What is a ghost?" said Tony.

Emi said, "Geist, spirit, soul, whatever separates a human from a service robot. The dub we did was perfect. There was no deterioration." She looked strangely proud of that accomplishment.

"Are you saying that Steve's soul is inside him?" said Sam.

"We're saying that according to our measurements, a copy that was exactly like the original is inside the current Steve Rogers. It is a perfect duplication, something that has never happened before."

"Is SHIELD going to start making knock-off copies of us?" said Tony.

"No, all of you would die in the process without absolutely nothing having been gained and the scandal would be too much. It was only done this time because it was the only way to salvage him," said Makoto. 

Everybody began looking at Steve. Steve said, "I don't remember agreeing to it but I know that I would have. And if it's true that I have a soul inside of me even if it's a copy then I think that should count for something. Am I the only copy?"

"Yes," said Makoto.

"For now," said Emi.

***  
"You're brooding," said Banner as he stood next to Tony as he looked at the city around them from the top of the Tower. Banner was holding two glasses with a large round ball of ice each and a bottle of whiskey.

"That was a lot to listen to and you should have shown me the file Nat gave you before that meeting." Bruce had given him the file and disks Natasha had found and while he didn't agree with all the conclusions, he could at least see why this had called the meeting. 

"I wanted to make sure you came."

Tony scowled at his fellow scientist. "Damn it, Bruce, I don't like secrets or surprises."

"I think of it as a delayed revelation. I spent most of the time between receiving the file and the meeting, actually reviewing the material myself to my complete satisfaction and figuring out how to get those two to show up. I basically had to threaten to go Hulk Smash their labs to get them to come."

"I noticed that they didn't want to talk about Project 2501."

"Rumor has it that they accidentally created a program that became self-aware and their section just barely managed to contain it when it went rogue. They asked for asylum because they didn't want to be thrown under the bus instead of their superiors who asked for it in the first place. Tell me, what are you really afraid of?"

"What?"

"What's really eating you? Because I don't know how to talk about it unless I know what's annoying you."

"What's not to annoyed about? SHIELD experimented on Steve under duress and expected us to just accept this and now everybody's acting like this knock-off Ken doll is the real thing? I mean, I spent my entire life trying to define myself, to be and do things nobody else could do and to think, someone could just duplicate all that by pushing a button and nobody would care."

"They said it was basically a miracle it worked with Steve. Look, Tony, you once had a big hunk of metal in your chest to keep you from dying. It didn't make you any less human."

"That's different. It's your brain that's important. I wouldn't mind if Steve had bionic legs or arms or a dick."

"It seems a lot of cyborgs have some of the same worries you do. They wonder if they're still human. They wonder where the boundaries between being human and being robotic are. You know what's hilarious?"

"What?"

"I once talked to someone who said that the Japanese word for brains is noumiso. She later said that's because it had the consistency of miso paste. She was probably joking but it still sounds funny." After chuckling for a few seconds, Bruce said, "I do hear you. I don't want SHIELD to do it to anybody else. I just think we should direct it towards who pushed for it done and not who it was done to."

"I feel like if I accept this guy, I'm agree with what was done."

"Look, Tony. We treat Thor as one of us, Natasha's Russian and you don't have a problem with JARVIS. If we made a completely synthetic humanoid life form, you'd be jumping up and down with glee at having pulled it off. You can despise how he was made but I don't think you should hate him. At least think about it."

"If they had just called me and kept him alive, I would have stayed up days on end and made him a body. It would have been my number one priority. Just keep him alive until I was done. I could have done it in less than a week. God damn mother fuckers." Tony sighed. "Now, are you just going to hold good liquor all night or are you going to pour some?"

Bruce handed Tony a glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The two Japanese characters are original characters for both the Marvel movie verse & Ghost in the Shell verse. However, Section 6 is canon and is responsible for Project 2501 where an AI became self-aware. In my head canon, these two are not doing any of what they did to Steve because they specifically wanted to but because SHIELD ordered them to and they know if SHIELD drops kick them back home, they'll be in big trouble. 
> 
> The geopolitical activity and alternative histories of both series are pretty different from each other and this story is non canon compliant so there is tweaking involved. While voluntarily chosen cybernetic replacement bodies/implants are common in Ghost in the Shell's Japan, you don't really see them in Marvel's USA and I'm going with the idea that people in Marvel's USA would not be into it due to the drawbacks, so the companies here wouldn't be producing them due to lack of demand. Also if I ran a security agency, I'd be hesitant to use a ready-made imported body from overseas. 
> 
> I lean pretty hard on the very first movie Ghost in the Shell for my particular canon though I have also seen parts of Stand Alone Complex. Ghost hacking is mentioned in the first movie and SAS. Motoko in the first movie also seems to be brooding about the cybernetic aspect of her body to the point it bothers her friend Batou and her supervisor. SAS also has Tachikomas, AIs that eventually develop individual personalities and even exhibit self-sacrifice. They're cute despite having a slightly buggy design. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachikoma I don't expect Section 9 nor Tachikomas to appear in the story.
> 
> Of course, Project 2501 is still out in its new merged form there but it makes no sense for the techs nor the Avengers to know this. I think even Section 6 believed it was a done deal at that point.
> 
> I once saw a manga where a character insulted another character by asking if her brain had become hard like a muscle or something like that so I asked about that and was told that the brain is pretty soft like miso. http://www.japanesewordoftheday.com/words/2008-11-19/noumiso/


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter than normal. Next chapter should be as long or longer than usual.

"I think this lead is real and my source is working on getting his full address," said Natasha as Sam and Steve looked at the information she had found. They were in Natasha's living room at the Tower.

"I thought you'd be jumping with joy," said Sam, noticing the sadness on Steve's face.

"I am happy. It's just that he's not going to be expecting me to be fully mechanical, is he?"

"We can explain things to him. You just have to let him digest it."

"Suppose he can't get over it."

Sam sighed. "I think the best way to deal with it is basically tell him that you've had a full body replacement done right off the bat then as he gets better and more able to understand, you tell him the rest."

Steve nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. I don't want to lie to him or make him feel like I was made to trick him."

Natasha sighed, "I think that you have to keep in mind that he's probably changed a lot so maybe he'll be more understanding than you think. He has a metal arm so maybe that will help." 

Steve smiled and said, "You both know that I used to be a lot smaller, right?"

"Yeah," said Sam and Natasha nodded.

"The first time Bucky saw me after the serum, he was pretty gobsmacked but he still cared. It took some getting used to for him that I wasn't the small guy that got that 4F designation. When we got back to camp, he squeezed my shoulders and my arms in disbelief because I had changed so much. He still . . . He was the only friend I had who knew me before I became Captain America and he didn't stop caring when the packaging changed. I really need him to be able to make that leap of faith just one more time."

Sam sighed, "He's going to be a mess. He didn't know you the first time he saw you and even though he pulled you from the river . . . I'm just saying that you should keep your expectations low, Steve."

Steve smiled. "You called me Steve."

"Yeah, well, there's the essence of what makes Steve Steve inside of you so . . . We all agreed that we should call you by your real name."

"Thanks, guys." Steve began to cry.

"Nat, you got a tissue for this guy?" said Sam.

"Yeah and I got one for you, too."


	5. Chapter 5

Tony was in his workshop when there was a knock on the door. "JARVIS, who is it?"

"It's Emi and Makoto," said JARVIS.

"Who? Oh, I remember," said Tony. "Let them in."

He turned to the door and said, "So, what do you want?"

Emi and Makoto looked at each other. "We hear that the Steve has been doing well on missions," said Emi.

"Yeah, I guess," said Tony.

"He still thinks of himself as human?" said Makoto.

"Yes, he does. Why?"

"SHIELD asked us to work on a new project. They want to make dubs off him."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "Do you mean like copies off a master tape?"

"Yeah, they want to make a thousand robots like him."

"I thought dubbing usually destroyed the original and it's a miracle we got what we got."

"They're hoping that with a powerful android body, he can be dubbed an infinite number of times."

As uneasy as the current version of Steve made him, he found the idea profoundly disturbing. He could also tell by Makoto and Emi's expression that they didn't particularly relish it either. "That sounds painful."

"We're also worried about generation loss," said Emi, referring to the process where copying something caused information to be loss and the copy being inferior to the original. 

"It shouldn't happen if you use digital technology correctly," said Tony.

"They don't want to use it correctly," said Emi. "They want to prune him."

"What?"

Makoto said, "They don't want him to be human. They want him to be a drone."

"They want to take his personal memories, just keep only his skill and mission related ones," said Emi.

Tony blurted out, "His motivation center will crash if they do that."

"We know that. They don't listen to us. We actually did some simulations where we showed that if we took out the memories illustrating why he fought, the personality would irretrievably fragment. But we are supposed to be magicians and just make things happen," said Makoto, clapping his hands angrily to illustrate how he felt SHIELD was demanding things. "We are technicians, not magicians."

"You said that they want to make . . ."

"Thousands of copies, all of them with the high probability of going berserk under the stress, which is the part of all missions," said Emi.

"It makes my head hurt," said Makoto, who pulled out a cigarette.

Emi looked at his neck, which had a nicotine patch on it. "Idiot, you're going to make yourself sick. You can't smoke when you have a patch on." She snatched the cigarette out of his hands.

"Shut up, if I'm going to die anyway, I want to smoke."

"Excuse me!" snapped Tony. "Why are you telling me this?"

"They want you to help. We told them we couldn't do it and then they said we should ask you to help because you were capable and that you hated him so it wouldn't bother you."

Tony swallowed. "I don't hate him."

The two programmers gave him a disbelieving look.

"I don't like him but I don't want him to be used like that. I'm not going to help in this." 

***

"Another meeting?" said Clint.

"Tony called it and he sounded pretty insistent," said Sam as they walked towards the meeting room.

"Oh, good, everybody is here, even Thor," said Tony once everybody had sat down. He told everybody what the programmers had told him. 

"Jesus Christ," sighed Bruce. He began squeezing a tension ball in each hand to keep his anger from rising too high. 

Steve said, "So, are you going to hand me over?"

"What? No!" said Tony. "Natasha said that you've finally found some clues on Buckmeister. Why don't you follow that lead?"

"SHIELD's not going to take no for an answer," said Steve. "If you have to turn me over . . ."

Natasha snapped, "No."

"Let me finish," said Steve. "I want to find Bucky first, see if he needs some help. At least stall that long for me."

Tony smiled for the first time. "Actually, it's not going to come down to that. Because I have come up with a solution!"

Thor coughed.

"With a great deal of help," said Tony. 

"What's the solution?" said Natasha. 

***

"Where are Makoto Abe and Emi Hamasaki?" said Nick Fury. The two technicians had been missing from their post for the past few days and he suspected Tony had something to do with their disappearance.

"They quit and now work for Stark Industries," said Tony. 

"You can't do that. They are working on a top-level clearance level project . . ."

"Involving the enslavement, torture and very probable murder of a member of our team." Tony frowned. "I don't completely accept that he's THE Steve Rogers but I do accept that he's a sentient person who has won over the hearts and minds of my other team members and you are not going to lay a hand on him for something that Steve did not volunteer for."

"It is none of your business."

"It is our business when we start to think about how little regard SHIELD has for our lives. We don't mind risking our lives, even dying, even being disabled on a permanent basis to protect this planet. But nobody has the right to demand we be resurrected and be bound to this duty forever and with all our inconvenient parts of who we are, trimmed off."

"We can take him."

"We will fight you," said Tony. "We'll go public with what you've done to Steve. Americans love Steve and this ghoulish cannibalization of his soul will make sure SHIELD is gutted of funding. And if you try to come after us militarily, you're going to have go up against an entire planet of technologically advanced warriors because Thor agrees with us. Or every single Avenger and the two technicians will move to Asgard and YOU can try whipping up something the day some new threat pops up."

"Dubbing Steve could have freed every one of you of the job of protecting the Earth."

"All of us have our reasons for being an Avenger. It's our choice. I won't let you take everything good about him and do THIS to him."

"You're bluffing," said Nick.

Thor walked into the room. "It is no bluff. Every one of them is under my protection."

***

"Bucky?" said Steve as he walked into the little shabby motel room he had been staying in.

"What are you doing here?" 

Steve had received Tony's phone call earlier in the morning. He was glad that he had somewhere he could take Bucky to. "I have a lot of things to say. All I'm asking is that you just listen . . ."

Bucky nodded slowly and cautiously. "Ok."

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have heard of smokers who smoke while wearing a nicotine patch. They end up feeling sick. 
> 
> In the Ghost in the Shell movie, a man is implanted with fake memories then feels grossed out that he remembers a wife and daughter that don't exist. He asks if the fake memories can be removed. He's told that it's possible but it was really recommended against, implying that the damage to the rest of his mind made it not worth it. I feel that a similar amount of damage would be done to Steve if this avenue was pursued. 
> 
> In the sequel movie, it is shown that dubbed androids can go berserk. 
> 
> I didn't expect it to be quite so Tony-centric except that he has the whole arc of being the strongest against New!Steve to someone willing to stand up and argue for him. 
> 
> Part of the framing comes from that Star Trek Next Generation episode where Picard and Riker have to argue whether this scientist can experiment on Data to create multiple copies of him.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't have Vision in the fic because everybody seemed to accept Vision as a sentient being off the bat. Also, Vision would be much more likely to demand recognition as a sentient being for Steve. Also it would make everybody look VERY hypocritical, which is not what I want. I also wanted to focus not just on Steve being a robot but also the fact he's meant as a replacement of a friend while Vision was a brand new member with none of the baggage. So Vision will not be in this fic.


End file.
